This is a religious
question, and most people have strong feelings about it that mainly depend
on whichever system theyve bought into already. However, its complicated
by the fact that there are definitely strengths and weaknesses of each system.

Note that I
say system here - I believe its far more important to consider
all the elements of a given camera system (lenses, flash units, etc) than
a specific camera model. You often see posts online from people agonizing
over whether they should buy the Canon 30D or the Nikon D200 or the Sony
Alpha or whatever, but I think theyre missing the point. Unless you
really really love a specific camera model for some reason, or just want to
buy a single camera and lens, its wiser to consider the features available
to you in the whole system.

So I think the
question only becomes meaningful when you ask, which manufacturer makes
a system which best suits my particular photographic needs?

Now since this
is meant to be a beginner FAQ for users of Canon EOS cameras Im not
going to get into a long discussion about the merits of drawbacks of each
manufacturer. But I will mention a few points to consider.

Do you want
to buy a new film and a new digital camera which can use the same lenses?
If so, Canon, Sony and Pentax are currently your choices. (Sony support
the lens format developed by Minolta for their film cameras) Nikon have
dropped nearly all their film-related
cameras and products. Of course, you can still buy tons of incredibly good
second hand Nikon cameras and lenses, so this may not be a huge issue for
the time being.

Do you want
to be able to use both manual-focus and autofocus lenses on the same camera?
If so, many modern Nikon cameras (though not their cheaper models) fit the
bill. Canons old manual-focus system (eg: the FD-mount series of cameras)
is not compatible with its autofocus system (the EOS series of cameras).

Do you want
to buy affordable fast and quiet lenses with ultrasonic motors or image stabilization?
If so, Canon is your better choice. Nikon sell lenses containing such technology
but only really expensive ones. Sony take a different approach and include
image stabilization in the camera body rather than the lens.

Do you have
specialized requirements such as the need for interchangeable finders or fully
compatible macro bellows or high-capacity film backs? If so, older Nikon cameras are probably
a better choice.

Do you want
a really lightweight camera? Canons low-end SLR gear is some of the
lightest around.

Do you have
a good friend or relative with lots of camera equipment? If so, and theyre
willing to lend you it from time to time, you should probably get the same
system that they use. They can also be a valuable resource when you have questions
and problems.

Do you want
to start out with cheaper products and slowly build up the system with time?
If so, Canons a good choice since they sell cheap, midrange and expensive
gear thats all compatible.

Do you want
to be able to rent professional-level equipment from a pro store on occasion? If so, Canon and Nikon are your best choices. I’ve never heard of a store renting out gear made by Sony, Pentax, Olympus, and other smaller players in the SLR market.

And of course
there are many other things to consider. If youre interested to know
some of the reasons that I personally chose the Canon EOS system, have a look
at my article on the topic.

Really, though,
it comes down to personal choice. Make a list of the type of features you
need to suit your photographic requirements and work out a basic budget. Go
to a camera store. Check out the various cameras and lenses that fit that
budget and decide if they feel right for you. Play with the camera controls
- do they make sense to you? Does the camera grip feel comfortable? Does the
maker offer the equipment you want at prices you can afford?

What
does EOS mean?

Canons
line of autofocus-capable SLR cameras is sold under the name EOS. This stands
for electro-optical system but is also meant to be a reference
to Eos, a Greek goddess of the dawn. Some people pronounce it like the goddess
(ee-oss) and others as separate letters (ee-oh-ess).

Note also that
the company itself is Canon with one N - not with two Ns, like the weapon. In its very early days the firm was named
Kwanon, after an older spelling of the Buddhist goddess of mercy Kannon or Guanyin. However the company soon changed
to Canon (a general law or principle).

What
does EF mean?

Lenses built
by Canon for use with their EOS series of cameras are technically known as
EF-series lenses. This acronym stands for electrofocus. Older
Canon lenses which are not marked EF, such as FD and FL series lenses, are
not compatible with EOS cameras.

Compatibility
is very straightforward - if its an EOS camera then an EF lens will fit. However,
there is one complication. In
2004 Canon introduced a new EF lens mount variant for certain digital EOS cameras only.
This variant is known as EF-S. An EF-S mount camera
can accept both EF and EF-S lenses, but all other EOS cameras take only EF
lenses. Newer consumer and midrange EOS digital cameras can use both EF and EF-S lenses.

There are four
other minor points of note here. Mainly of interest to completists, but there we
go.

First, Canon
sell expensive specialized TS-E and MP-E lenses which, while technically not
EF lenses since they lack autofocus motors, are nonetheless designed for EOS
cameras.

Second, while
Canon autofocussing lenses are technically known as EF you will sometimes
see them referred to as Canon autofocus lenses. Third-party lensmakers
may or may not use the EF specification - they might simply refer to their
lenses as being For Canon EOS or Canon autofocus compatible.

Third, Canon
briefly sold a camera with an EF lens mount which lacked autofocus circuitry.
This camera, the EF-M, could
accept all EF lenses but you had to focus them manually.

Finally, just
to confuse things further, in 1973 Canon released a manual-focus camera which
was called the Canon EF. It predates the EOS system by 14 years and it cannot
use EF lenses.

What
does SLR mean?

All Canon EOS
cameras are SLRs, which stands for single lens reflex. Very
simply an SLR is a camera in which there is only one lens, which is used for
both picture-taking and viewfinding. When you peer through the viewfinder
at the back of the camera youre looking directly through the main picture-taking
lens, so you can see pretty well exactly whats going to be in the final picture.
There isnt a separate viewfinder lens on the front of the camera like on
a point and shoot camera.

The word reflex
in there refers to a mirror used to reflect light from the lens up into the
viewfinder. SLRs also have glass pentaprisms or pentamirrors on the top, which
explains the protruding section on top of the camera.

What
is the history of EOS cameras?

While today
Canon and Nikon are considered the big two Japanese 35mm SLR manufacturers,
and thus the world, this was by no means always the case. German camera makers
dominated the global camera market for the first half of the previous century,
with many local players selling products successfully in generally less prestigious markets.
Then, in the 1950s, Nikon became the 35mm frontrunner with a host of smaller
firms - Pentax, Minolta, Canon, Olympus, Miranda, Ricoh, etc - following on
behind. Canon made some breakthroughs with their F1 and A1 cameras in the
1970s, but by the 1980s they were definitely lagging and Minolta (now sadly gone from the camera market)
were making considerable inroads.

Canons
first step to pull itself ahead in the SLR market came with 1986s innovative
T90,
a manual-focus camera designed in collaboration with the noted German industrial
designer Luigi Colani. The T90s curved organic shape, heavy reliance
upon computer automation and intuitive user interface set the direction for
the entire Japanese SLR industry for the next 10-15 years.

The company
realized, however, that the future of photography lay in autofocus. Their
early experiments - such as the T80, which shipped with somewhat clumsy autofocus
lenses adapted to the FD manual-focus lens mount - werent particularly
successful, so Canon took the risky and unusual step of abandoning their FD
mount altogether. In 1987 they released the first cameras and lenses of the
EOS system.

EOS cameras
were utterly incompatible with Canons previous products; a move which
obviously alienated legions of Canon FD owners. The risk was calculated, however.
EOS cameras with their EF lenses did not rely on any mechanical linkages between
body and lens. Unlike all other camera makers Canon chose to house both the
autofocus motor and the aperture diaphragm motor in the lens barrel itself.

This gamble
paid off when Canon were the first maker to release lenses containing fast
and silent focussing ultrasonic autofocus motors. Canons comprehensive
line of USM lenses, along with the professional-quality EOS 1 and 1N camera
bodies, helped Canon firmly establish themselves as a strong favourite of
professionals. Massive sales of their low-end EOS cameras also allowed the
company to enter markets in which Nikon, with a traditional emphasis on mid
to high-end cameras, could not compete.

The EOS lineup
branched out to encompass digital image sensors in the mid 1990s. First Canon
teamed up with Kodak to release a number of EOS 1 series pro bodies combined
with large digital add-on gear. Then, in October 2000 Canon introduced the
D30, its first fully homegrown digital SLR camera. Canon now sell a wide range
of digital EOS SLRs, covering the familiar consumer/advanced amateur/pro ranges,
and are the largest DSLR maker in the world, with Nikon very close behind.

What
is 35mm film?

Most Canon EOS
film cameras were built around 35mm film, which is photographic roll film exactly 35mm (about
1.4 inches) in width. The film is punched with sprocket holes on either side,
so the useable image area of 35mm film is 24mm by 36mm in size.* The film
is wound onto spools and the spools sealed up inside metal (occasionally plastic)
lightproof canisters. Typically there are either 24 or 36 fullsize still frames
(pictures) on a roll of 35mm film.

35mm film, occasionally
referred to as 135 film after the original Kodak product code number, is really the only major film format commonly used today for still photography. Its
considered a small format since the negatives are fairly small in size. Other
formats seen in years gone by include APS (a moribund consumer film format - see below), 110 (now-obsolete
Instamatic film cartridges popular in the 1970s), medium format (6 cm wide
film used by portrait and landscape photographers; the second-most popular format to 35mm today) and large format (big sheets
of film in varying sizes, used by some artists).

* Technical
note - the 24mm x 36mm area assumes three things. First, that the useable
width of the film excludes the sprocket hole area. Second, that youre
using a 2:3 aspect ratio of height to width. And third, that the width of
the film is used for the shorter of the two dimensions. Basically every 35mm
film camera sold today uses this image area standard defined by the original
Leica cameras of the 1930s, though in the past cameras were made which used
smaller film areas by using the width of the film for the longer of the two
dimensions. Such halfsize film cameras, including the Olympus
Pen and Canon Demi, were around mainly in the 1960s and could pack twice as
many photos onto a roll, albeit at lower image quality. And in fact motion
picture cameras, which first used the 35mm film standard, actually use what
is considered a halfsize frame format by still photo standards.
But enough trivia.

Should
I get an APS film camera?

Only if you’re an antique collector.

APS - Advanced
Photo System - will probably be the last film format ever invented. It was released in 1996 by
Kodak and a consortium of major manufacturers, including Fuji, Agfa, Konica,
Nikon, Canon, Minolta and Pentax. It packed a number of technological advancements,
such as the ability to record shooting data to film using a magnetic recording
layer on the film surface. More importantly, the cartridges were slightly smaller
than 35mm canisters, thus permitting the creation of tiny and cute little
cameras. The system was also designed to be as idiot-proof as possible, with
simple drop-in film loading. APS cartridges were fully sealed and the film
was never removed all the way, so users never handled the negatives.

Unfortunately, APS was doomed from the start because of its inherent weaknesses. First, the size of its negatives was smaller than
that of 35mm film. Thus the image quality was, all things being equal, lower.
If you were making small (4"x6" or so) prints then this difference
didnt much matter. But what if you get that amazing photo that you
want to enlarge? If you shot it with APS then itd look rather grainy
blown up, which would be really disappointing. Second, it cost more
to process and print APS film than 35mm film. So you paid more for lower quality - not much of a win. And third, APS sales were soon to be completely wiped out by digital.

This question
is relevant to an EOS FAQ because, in addition to a number of currently available
APS point and shoot cameras, Canon also made two EOS cameras which
could use APS film - the EOS IX (and the ECF-equipped IX E in Japan) and the
less expensive EOS IX 7 (international) / IX Lite (North America) / IX 50
(Japan). By all accounts they were quite decent APS cameras and were
fully compatible with all EOS lenses and accessories. Note, however, that
you do get a focal length multiplier effect
when you use EOS lenses with these APS cameras.

Should
I buy a film camera or a digital camera?

When I first
wrote this FAQ back in 2001-2002, film had not yet been dealt the crushing body blow from digital
that it has now received. But now, in 2010, it’s pretty clear that film is dead as a viable imaging medium for most purposes. That may make a lot of film lovers deeply unhappy, but it’s basically pretty unassailable.

Now, obviously film isn't going to disappear utterly. Just as
vinyl records are still used for specialized purposes today (namely DJing), film
isnt going to vanish off the face of the Earth. However it will become increasingly expensive
and uncommon and eventually only some artists and hobbyists will continue
to use the antique chemical processes. For many years the massive amounts of consumer film processing have subsidized professional and artistic use, but with the former gone the latter is basically economically unviable.

It’s a shame, as there was a certain magic in the ritual of shooting film and getting it processed and printed. Slides always looked so beautiful. But digital is cheaper, offers higher quality in most cases, and is vastly more convenient. So we’ve reached the end of an era.

Cost.
Film has low startup costs (film cameras are dirt cheap these days) but high consumable
costs (developing and printing film is increasingly expensive). By contrast digital has
high startup costs (digital SLRs with interchangeable lenses cost
much more than good film cameras, plus you really need to buy a
decent personal computer if you havent got one already) and lower consumable
costs (if you dont print your pictures you only need to buy storage
media, and you can selectively print out only the photos you want).

Quality.
Film has long been superior to digital, but this is no longer necessarily
the case. High quality digital cameras can produce sharp grainless images that exceed shots taken with 35mm film. Purists will sniff and say that
digital film has an artificial look that film lacks, just as LP aficionados
dislike CDs for the same reason. But for most of us digital has reached the
point where we cant tell the difference. Sure, medium format film still looks great, but who can afford to use it these days?

Convenience.
Digital wins this hands down in most cases. Digital cameras have preview
screens so you can have a rough idea of whether or not your picture turned
out a second after youve taken it. Digital images are available immediately
- theres no need to take the film to a lab. Digital images can be emailed
around the world or put onto a Web page in seconds, without the need for scanning.
Naughty home photos can be taken without the embarrassment of lab technicians
looking at your stuff and posting them to the Internet. And so on.

Freedom and
experimentation.
One of the most valuable aspects of digital is the sense of freedom it can
give to photography. Shooting in digital is essentially free once youve
bought the camera, and large-capacity memory cards capable of storing hundreds
of shots are readily available. So you can just go out there and shoot shoot
shoot, trying every new thing that strikes your fancy, without worrying about
developing costs or having to carry dozens of rolls of film with you.

Some
may argue that this leads to a certain sloppiness - photographers had to be
incredibly careful about what pictures they took when taking a photo meant
exposing a huge glass plate or a frame of a roll of 6 exposure film that cost
a typical months salary. Which is true, but nobodys arguing that
digital is the ideal medium for slow, carefully-composed landscape shots here.
The requirements for, say, candid photography are quite different.

Specialized
issues.
There are many other complex issues which may or may not factor into your
decision making. For example, most affordable digital cameras today have image
chips smaller than the image area of 35mm film. This means that wide-angle
lenses behave like less wide lenses, which could be a problem if you do a
lot of wide angle photography and haven’t invested in EF-S type lenses. On longer trips,
digital cameras
require more support infrastructure than you might initially think.
You need power to recharge batteries, you need to carry portable
laptop computers or picture wallets, etc, which can be a problem when travelling, especially
in more remote regions. A traditional all-mechanical film camera might still be usable even without battery power.

Why
arent cameras and lenses from different manufacturers interchangeable?

Each camera
maker wants to lock you into their system. They dont want to see sales
lost to people buying other makers products. So they design their own
lens mount systems which other makers dont or cant use. This also
lets the manufacturer unilaterally alter the lens mount design to add new
features without the need to consult with a committee or other makers.

This is why
a Nikon F lens cannot fit a Canon EOS camera. And why a Pentax K lens cant
fit a Sony SLR camera body. Of course, some third party makers build lenses
which fit different camera systems, but they do so only by producing different
versions of each lens for each camera system.

In the 1960s
and 70s many makers used 42mm screwmount lenses of the type popularized by
the Asahi Pentax Spotmatic camera. Back then lenses lacked complex computerized
autofocus systems and the like, so it was comparatively easy to make them.
Thats probably the closest the world has ever come to a universal lens
mount system. Interestingly, the dream of a universal lens mount is not
completely dead - in 2002 Olympus and Kodak collaborated on the creation of a new
standard for interchangeable lens digital cameras, which they call Four Thirds.
So far Olympus, Kodak, Fuji, Panasonic, Leica, Sanyo and Sigma have agreed to make and
sell products which adhere to this standard. Notably absent from this list are Canon,
Nikon, Pentax and Sony.

Now, naturally
things arent quite as cut and dried as all that, since lens adapters
do exist. Such adapters are machined metal rings which allow lenses for one
camera system to fit onto a body of another camera system. Unfortunately such
adapters only permit non-EF lenses to be physically attached to EOS bodies
- they dont let autofocus and auto-aperture mechanisms work, for example.
For more information on these and other drawbacks of lens adapters please
consult my article
on the subject.

I have an EOS film
camera and accessories. Can I use this stuff with an EOS digital
camera?

That depends. Most things
will work, some things wont, and some things will work but in a
slightly different fashion.

Lenses.All Canon EF
lenses will work with any Canon EOS digital camera. However, if you have
an EOS digital camera with a subframe image sensor (ie: its image sensor
is smaller than a frame of 35mm film) then pictures you take with that
camera and lens will look cropped compared to the pictures you take with
the same lens on a film camera body. For details have a look at the
section on the cropping factor.

Its hit and miss
whether your non-Canon (third party) EF lenses will work with your EOS
digital camera, however. For example, older Sigma lenses will not work on newer EOS
film or digital camera bodies, even though they work fine on older EOS
film bodies. This is because their electronics are not compatible. Most
Tokina and Tamron lenses should be fine, but theres no
guarantee.

Flash.All Canon Speedlite flash
units of the EX variety (eg: 430EX II, 380EX) will work fine with an EOS
digital camera. However, if the flash units name ends with EZ or E
then it will not work in a useful fashion on an EOS digital camera since it
will not meter automatically. Third party flash units are a toss-up.
Most are TTL only and thus won’t work on an EOS digital camera.
However, if your third party flash supports E-TTL flash metering then it
should work, but again there are no guarantees.

Filters.Filters can be used if they fit the lens
in question. If the filter is too big for your lens you can adapt it
using a step-up ring to make it fit. But if the filter is too small then
obviously it isnt going to be of much use on a larger
lens.

Miscellaneous accessories.Some accessories
will work and some wont. For example, lets say you have an
RS60-E3 shutter release for your EOS 50 camera. Itll work fine on
your EOS 550D camera since they use the same connectors. The Off-Camera
Shoe Cord (OCSC) is another compatible accessory and will work fine with
a digital camera, letting you attach a flash unit to your
camera.

Other accessories wont be compatible. For example, if
you have an RS-60T3 switch for your old EOS RT camera it wont work
on any modern EOS film or digital camera since the T3 connector is no
longer used by Canon. Another accessory that wont work is the TTL
Hot Shoe Adapter 3, since it requires TTL flash and EOS digital cameras
support only E-TTL flash.

I have a non-EOS digital camera. Can I
use its accessories with an EOS digital camera?

As above, that depends. Only it depends more. Some things may be interchangeable; many
things may not.

Memory cards.EOS cameras
use either CompactFlash (CF) or Secure Digital (SD) cards, depending on the model. A few models can use both. So if your old digital camera
uses cards that match the new camera youre all set. All other cards - Memory Stick, SmartMedia, and so on - will
not be usable on an EOS camera.

Lenses.Lenses
are probably not interchangeable. At best you may be able to adapt the
lens for another camera through the use of an adapter ring, but if you
did so you would lose autofocus focus abilities. This sort of lens
adapting is possible, for example, with Nikon F lenses, is awkward for
Pentax K lenses, and impossible for Four Thirds lenses. So it depends.
For more information on adapting lenses to EOS cameras, take a look at
my article on the subject.

Filters.Same as in the
previous section - if theyll fit then theyll
work.

Miscellaneous accessories.Again, it all
depends. A simple USB A to mini B cable is going to work with any
digital EOS camera that uses standard USB, but a proprietary data cable (such as
the ones Nikon build for their cameras which use Nikon-specific
connectors) will not be useful. Some Pentax cameras use the same type of
2.5mm connector for wired remote shutter release cables as low-end EOS
cameras. And so on. Generally its best to assume that most
accessories wont work. But theres only one way to find out,
and thats to try them!

Which
is a better investment? A camera or a lens?

Frankly, neither. To me, cameras and lenses and other photographic
equipment are tools to accomplish a job: that of taking great
photographs. And Canon EOS gear is just commodity equipment - albeit
pretty good commodity equipment - to that end. Its not like buying
classic Leica camera gear or other stuff sold these days in the
collectors marketplace as if they were paintings or stamps.

Having said that, its clear today that lenses are your best bet for
useful EOS photographic equipment which holds up its monetary value over
time. Film camera bodies have plunged in price now that digital rules
the world. A top of the line film camera, worth as much as a good
personal computer just a few years ago, is now traded on the used market
for the cost of a good point and shoot.

Camera body pricing has had to change economic paradigms. Digital
cameras now follow the computer equipment model in depreciating rapidly
the moment theyre purchased. But EOS lenses continue to be resold at
decent prices. An L class lens isnt going to be worth more today than
when it was bought, but neither will it plunge rapidly in value if its
in decent condition.

So, given this fact of the new digital economy, if youre concerned
about money youre best off buying an expensive lens and attaching it to
a cheap camera rather than the other way around.

And not entirely coincidentally, this approach will also result in
better photographs. Good optics are still good optics, but digital
cameras are improving rapidly year by year. Witness all the people
adapting classic German lenses from the 1950s or Japanese lenses from
the 1960s and using them with the latest digital bodies - the glass is
as good as it always was, and often competes with the best glass made
today. It may just be less convenient, since newer lenses sport
technological features such as autofocus and image stabilization.

Where
can I get a manual for my camera?

If you bought
a used camera sans manual or if you simply lost yours you have a number of
choices.

Look on Canons
Web sites.
Canon post electronic (PDF) versions of their new camera manuals
online, which is great news. All their digital cameras, for example, have
online
manuals available. Unfortunately they havent posted manuals for all their
older products.

Call Canon for older cameras.
Canon will happily sell you another manual for a modest fee. Just phone the
Canon office for your country and someone should be able to help you. Note
that they may only be able to offer you a photocopy of the manual for older
discontinued products. Calling Canon is definitely your best bet for finding
manuals in languages other than English.

Check out
the unofficial manuals.
At least two Web sites offer original unofficial manuals for certain EOS camera
models for free download. One, PhotoNotes.org,
is the site youre looking at now. The other is EOSdoc.com.

Contact a
used camera shop.
Many camera shops which specialize in used equipment also sell whatever camera
manuals that wind up in their inventory. Two such shops with online presences
include Craig Camera
(which actually specializes in rare and obscure camera manuals) and KEH.

Buy a third-party
book.
You can buy supplemental user manuals from camera shops published by third
parties. (ie: not Canon) The names these books are sold under include Hove
and Magic Lantern. These third party books are intended to be good companions
to the original manual. Unfortunately they are of varying quality - some offer
useful detailed information and others, even from the same publisher, are
filled with generic fluff. You might want to see if your local camera shop
carries the book youre interested in before buying it.

Look on eBay
and other auction sites.
There seems to be a small cottage industry in scanning camera manuals and
selling CD-ROMs to users. Technically this is, of course, a blatant violation
of Canons copyrights, but Canon apparently dont care and havent
taken legal action against these folks, so its pretty easy to find such
manuals on auction sites. Sometimes people will auction off genuine Canon
manuals as well.

Experiment.
The tough way to go. Who needs a manual anyway? Most of Canons equipment
is reasonably easy to figure out, so just play with your camera until it seems
to make sense.

What
is a third party product?

A manufacturer
of lenses, add-on devices such as flash units and so on that sells products
designed for another camera system. For example, Tamron, Tokina and Sigma
all manufacture third-party lenses designed to work with cameras made by Nikon,
Canon, Sony and Pentax. According to this model the manufacturer of the camera system
is the first party, the consumer (end user,
or you) is the second party, and the manufacturer of the add-on accessories is the third party.

What
is a grey market product?

Any merchandise
which was not imported into a country by the manufacturers authorized
agent. Some camera retailers, for example, go to Japan and buy camera gear
there and import it into the country themselves. This activity is legal but
not usually sanctioned by the manufacturer. Since grey market
sounds rather sinister some shops prefer calling the practice direct
import.

There are three
issues with this. First, some manufacturers dont respect warranties
on products bought grey market. In the case of Canon it depends if you have
a film camera or a digital camera. In the case of film, Canon seem to honour international
warranties, though usually only at service depots. Sadly with the advent of
digital Canon have reversed this policy and restrict warranty service to the
region of purchase. (eg: a camera bought in NYC can be serviced in Toronto,
but not in Berlin) This is really frustrating for travellers and other
professionals who may find themselves for some time outside their home region.
Grey market products made
by other makers may only be serviced by the importer/retailer itself, and
the quality and convenience of this service will of course vary. Second, some
people may be concerned that a grey market product may be of lower quality
than an officially imported one. This fear is normally unfounded. Grey market
product may have different names and may have slightly different feature sets,
but in the case of photographic gear theyre usually all off the same
assembly line, though sometimes different labels are slapped on at the end.
Third, the product may not include manuals or software in a language you can
understand - check to see first.

For more information
on grey market products please check out my PhotoNotes Dictionary definition
of the term.

Where
should I buy my camera?

Camera shopping
can be a pretty treacherous endeavour. Cameras are high-priced commodity items,
so there can be a lot of sketchiness about the whole camera retail market.
Here are your basic shopping options, though.

Mail order.
This is often the cheapest option, though the risks are obvious. First, you
cant inspect the merchandise before buying, second, there are risks
of shipment damage and third, returns and repairs can be a nuisance with some
mail order outlets. You also dont have the opportunity to meet salespeople
in person and evaluate their honesty and reliability.

Small local
camera shops. Such shops tend not to have the best prices owing to their high
overhead costs and usually have small product inventories for the same reason,
but small shops can also have very knowledgeable longtime camera salespeople.
Not always, of course - sometimes they hire bored teenagers or surly wannabe photographers, like anywhere
else. But good local shops can be a terrific resource. Plus by shopping at
a local store youre putting money back into the local community.

Big mall/main
street camera shop chains or department stores. Prices are usually okay, salespeople
are usually uninformed and unhelpful. Return policies are usually reasonable,
though.

Online auction
sites. These can be cheap, but to say fraud is a serious problem on such sites
(especially with reasonably expensive products like cameras) is an understatement.
I have another article
on this subject, if youre interested.

Pawn shops
often carry camera gear, though usually old junk that nobody wants. Remember
that pawn shops offer a very limited return to the seller, so a) you probably
wont find much highly marketable EOS gear and b) much of the stuff in
the store is probably stolen.

Another point
to be aware of is that a disturbing number of camera shops in general are
manipulative and dishonest operations. Its not just big energy,
telecom and investment companies which hold the monopoly on corruption.
The most common tactic is the old standby, bait and switch. Typical scenarios
might go like this:

Hello.
Im interested in the EOS 5D mark II you have advertised in the paper.
Sorry, sir. We just sold our last one. But I dont recommend
it anyway as its made in China. For a few dollars more, however, well
be happy to sell you the higher-quality made in Japan version of the EOS
5D mark II!

or:

Hi.
Do you have the used Rebel T1i you have advertised?
We do, maam, but you dont want it anyway as its
got a plastic lens mount that breaks. You should buy a brand new EOS 50D
instead - its got a solid steel lens mount!

Luckily you
know that all EOS 5D mark II bodies are made in Japan, that Digital Rebels never had plastic lens
mounts and that plastic lens mounts arent easily broken anyway, so you
wouldnt fall prey to such scams. But this sort of thing is amazingly
common, as is the trick of saying, if you buy X well give you
Y for free! when accessory Y is always included with item X anyway.
These scams can be pretty outrageous, like shops advertising a lens for a certain
price then,
when a customer asks to buy one, saying that the advertised price is for the
plastic version of the lens rather than the
glass version, which costs more. Or bizarre barefaced lies,
such as claiming that the camera they sell wont work without an additional
processor at extra cost.

Even if theyre
not this outrageously dishonest, salespeople can be aggressive and pushy,
especially if theyre trying to get you to buy something that earns them
higher commission points (kickbacks) from the manufacturer regardless of whether
or not its actually the most appropriate product to meet your needs.
Or they may insist on selling you a pile of overpriced accessories as a condition
of selling you a camera or whatever at a reasonably low price. Or they may
charge you unbelievably high shipping costs or put all kinds of unreasonable
conditions for returning merchandise. PC World magazine have an interesting
article detailing some of these horror stories, pointing out the huge
number of scam retailers based in New York City, in case youd like to
learn more.

Having said
all this, an honest and reliable salesperson can be a real pleasure to deal
with. There was a local store I often frequented for just that reason. Their
prices were higher than discount mail-order shops, but the sensible advice
and patience of one of their salespeople made it worth it. I often saw people
waiting around the counter just to deal with him rather than anyone else in
the shop - I wonder if the store manager had any clue what a valuable asset
he was.

Here are some
other suggestions for buying camera gear.

Research carefully.
Check around for average prices before buying - prices can vary wildly, especially
when it comes to used gear.

Dont
buy the first thing you see. Salespeople will push you to buy immediately,
but remember that camera equipment is just commodity stuff. One camera model
is identical to another; theres nothing special about it. If it turns
out you missed a slightly good deal, oh well. Another one will be around the
corner soon.

If the salesperson
is rude, aggressive, bored or completely clueless dont buy from them.
They dont deserve your money and besides, bad attitude does not augur
well when it comes to negotiating returns and repairs.

Buy with a
credit card. If theres a problem you can dispute the charge with your
credit company. If you pay with cash you may not have the same sort of leverage.

Consult the
Neighbor
to Neighbor section of Photo.net. This area is a place where people
post their opinions of camera dealers around the world, and is a pretty valuable
way to find the more honest and reliable camera shops out there. And of course
if youve had a particularly good or particularly bad experience with
a shop be sure to post your views so others can take heed!

Be wary of
prices that are too good to be true. They probably are. Sometimes youll
be lucky - I once bought a used EOS lens from a store that obviously had no
idea that it was worth twice what they were charging - but its wise
to be cautious.

In terms of
North American mail order, US outlets B&H and Adorama in New York (about the
only NYC-based firms without an evil reputation) and KEH in Atlanta have
all established good reputations for fair pricing and honesty. I dont
endorse them as such, but I cant complain about the service Ive
received from them - your proverbial mileage may, of course, vary.

B&H generally
have the best prices for new gear but dont have the biggest inventory
of used EOS gear. Note that both B&H and Adorama are Jewish-owned businesses
and thus observe Jewish religious events and not most Christian ones. So
theyre closed on Saturdays but open on Sundays. And when they say
were closed for the holidays they mean Passover, Yom Kippur,
Succos and so on. Check their Web sites for specific dates if you need to
order something time-critical and you arent familiar with the Jewish
calendar.

KEH are the
place to buy used EOS equipment on the Internet - their prices arent
the lowest, but they accurately describe the condition of their gear in
my experience. They also have a pretty good inventory of EOS gear and have
a decent returns policy. I bought a lens off them recently that was defective,
and they paid for the return shipping, which was more than reasonable. So,
although their prices are higher than a typical auction win, I think of
any additional cost as something of an insurance policy. KEHs
new equipment prices, on the other hand, are a bit high.

What should I look out for when shopping for second-hand equipment?

So. What about
previously owned gear? Well, the attraction is obvious - you should pay a lower
price than for brand new. Like a car, camera equipment depreciates in value the
minute it leaves the shop, so why not get somebody else to take that financial
hit? Or maybe you want to buy a useful product that the manufacturer has
discontinued. Of course,
buying second-hand is also riskier. You have to be more aware and more prudent
if you want to avoid ending up with a useless broken piece of junk.

Ive
bought a lot of second-hand equipment over the years, and here are some
suggestions.

Be
conservative about where you buy. If you feel any doubt about a seller, trust
your instincts. You owe the seller nothing, just as they dont owe you. A
local camera shop visited by locals is probably going to be somewhat more sound
than a guy selling stuff out of the back of a van.

The
premium you pay from buying from a reputable used camera shop may be worth the
lower risk, or it may not. Only you can decide how risk-averse you in when it
comes to financial transactions.

Find out
a fair price beforehand for the product. Dont spend more for a used
product than you can pay new, for example. This may sound stupid but I spent
some time once checking the winning bid prices for various auctions of used
products that were still available on the marketplace. Many went for over
the new price. Crazy.

Do your
research and ask detailed questions about the equipment. Make sure the seller
provides useful information. If they cant answer your questions then they
probably never used the product and so are less likely to know much about its
condition.

Ask the
seller for a history of the product. Why are they selling it?

Be wary
of auction sites or used gear postings when online. Look into insurance options
or buying in person. Im not saying theyre always a bad idea, but
fraud is rampant online because its so easy to commit. Have a look at my
related article on buying from auction sites.

Examine
the gear before buying if you can. Quite often the physical state of the machine
reflects how it was treated, and gear is less likely to fail if it was lightly
used or well maintained.

Look
carefully for subtle signs of impact damage - a camera that was dropped
isnt going to work as well. General scuffs and marks arent a big
deal except cosmetically, but dents and cracks may be.

Pop in a
working battery, make sure the various controls work, that the shutter operates
normally.

Check
shutters for rips, black stick oil, creases or other problems. A tiny bit of
wear on an older camera is fine, but shutters are fairly expensive to
replace.

Check
lenses for fungus - spider-like growths on the lens interior. You cant get
rid of the stuff - its there forever, and it may get worse. Rotate the
focus and zoom rings. Do they move smoothly? Do they catch or bind? Do they make
ghastly scraping noises?

Look for
tide marks (lines left by drying liquid) and never buy anything that has been
subject to liquid damage, since the risks are high. Rust or green copper
corrosion are bad signs.

Look
inside all battery compartments for signs of corrosion. Remove the lens and take
a look in the mirror box.

Ask what
comes with the gear. Do you get a manual? Any other stuff?

Are there
identifying marks on the gear? Is there a drivers licence number engraved on it? If so,
does the seller have an explanation? If not, it may be hot (stolen) property.

Does the
seller seem unusually eager to sell or ready to dump the gear at a low low
price? Do you feel like the seller is pressuring you hard? If so, once again,
it may well be stolen.

Finally,
dont fantasize about how your life will be so much better if you buy this
thing youre looking at. Consider less fun scenarios. What will you do if
you get swindled and sold some broken piece of junk? Remember that, at the end
of the proverbial day, a piece of camera equipment is a generic commodity. It
isnt some one-off fine piece of art or something. Therell be another
lens or camera or whatever around the corner.

What
does (some photography term) mean?

The field of
photography is indeed filled with strange and arcane buzzwords. For that reason
Ive written a huge online
dictionary which lists the vast majority of photographic terms you may
encounter.

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